Whether the songs are inspirational, personal or irreverent, students and families can expect to be serenaded at today's Match Day ceremony. The fourth-year medical students, who will receive official notification of their matches and learn where they will complete their residency training, have each chosen a song to be played as they take the podium.

"A lot of people chose the songs that helped get them through med school."

Meghan Gaule

Meghan Gaule, one of the 130 students who will be taking part in Match Day at 11 a.m. today, proposed the idea to class officers.

"Our main goal with the music is to relieve some stress," Gaule said. "There's a lot of tension in the room."

Gaule said students selected "quite a few funny songs," as well as one death-metal selection.

"A lot of people chose the songs that helped get them through med school," she added.

That's how Gaule came up with her own choice. She won't give the title pre-ceremony, but she said the tune is "pretty upbeat."

Academic Affairs Program Coordinator Sue Pope, who has been involved in the Match Day ceremony since 1970, said music would be a fabulous addition.

"Hopefully, it will calm some nerves and add a little excitement to the ceremony," she said.

Changes had to be made to accommodate the soundtrack. Instead of pulling the students' names at random during the actual event, as in the past, Pope will put the names in a randomly selected order ahead of time. This will allow the music to be synced in proper order for each student.

Pope said only she and the person syncing the music will know the selection order.

Howard Liu, M.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry, called graduation from medical school a special rite of passage.

"These are elite students who have come together from diverse backgrounds and survived four intense years with very little free time," he said. "They've bonded with each other over difficult dissections in the anatomy lab and kept each other awake during long call nights in the hospital.

"I think that choosing a Match Day theme song is a chance for students to celebrate the fact that they've made it to the finish line together," he said.

For Gaule, it's all about stress relief.

"Match Day is a very tense environment," she said. "So hopefully this will help change that."